Erratic Schedule

Biman gets conditional slot at Heathrow until Oct '08

Rashidul Hasan

The British Airways authorities have agreed to continue slots to Biman Bangladesh Airlines for Heathrow Airport until October 2008 on condition that Biman maintains at least 80 percent of its flight schedule.

Biman has also received assurance of continued slots--prescribed timing for arrival and departure of flights--from Riyadh, Dubai and Rome international airports.

The assurance for slots at Heathrow Airport came after a top Biman official's visit to the UK last month and a series of meetings with the British Airways slot coordination committee.

Biman authorities also contacted other airport authorities regarding slots for those airports.

Meanwhile, a delegation from the national airlines has gone to Toronto in Canada to attend a five-day conference of International Air Transport Association (IATA) that began on Friday. The conference will focus on coordination of flight schedules of various airlines.

On the sidelines of the conference, different airlines will mutually fix their flight schedules at one-to-one meetings, sources said.

Biman's repeated failure to maintain flight schedules to and from different international airports drew criticism. Airport authorities in different countries also warned of imposing fines on Biman for further failure.